And we recently discovered, if it was not known before, that no amount of power can withstand the hatred of the many.
- Marcus Tullius Cicero
Americans are brought up to believe all sorts of myths about the country we call home. We're told our economy is a free market meritocracy governed by the rule of law. We're told our civil liberties, enshrined in the Bill of Rights, are inviolable and protected by the most powerful military in the world. A fighting force entrusted with the admirable and monumental task of defending freedoms at home, and democracy and human rights abroad. We're told we exist in a system of self-government, in which our votes matter and our voices heard. In practice, none of this is true.
The fact of the matter is American citizens in 2018 are just a nuisance for the real power players. Useful as consumers, but increasingly problematic as larger numbers start to ask questions about how things really work. For far too long, we've been ignorant and willing accomplices in our own bondage. This allowed the concentrated and unaccountable power that really calls the shots to go for broke in recent decades, with unsurprisingly tragic results.
Only recently have things started to shift. Increased levels of barbarism abroad and corruption at home during the 21st century -- under both Republican and Democratic administrations -- have shaken many Americans from a long stupor. Irrespective of where you sit on the political spectrum, most people know something's not right. People don't agree on the details of what's wrong, and there's certainly no consensus on solutions, but increasing numbers of us know something's very broken.
I try to look at things from a big picture perspective, and from that angle I see too many people focused on the symptoms of cultural decay versus root causes. Not enough people seem to be taking a step back to see that at the core of today's broken socioeconomic and political paradigm is an American citizenry fundamentally entangled in various abusive relationships with power. This post will highlight three of these relationships. The first with government itself, the second with central banking, and the third with the dominant political parties.
continue reading
Source